Dougherty roots out problem with fine 66

The drum rolls were loud and insistent when he turned professional. Here comes Nick Dougherty, they said, and he's good. Ask Nick Faldo. And Faldo, six times a major champion, was happy to confirm that here was a major prospect; after all, hadn't he won the Faldo Junior series three years in a row and played successfully in a winning Walker Cup team?

Dougherty appeared to be the real deal: lively, personable, intelligent and handsome with it, he was a star waiting to shine. That was in 2001. Now, that bright light has dimmed. Whereas near-contemporaries such as Luke Donald and Paul Casey are in the world's top 15, Dougherty languishes in 132nd place, not quite forgotten but not a name on everyone's lips.

In the third round here, though, in the esoteric surroundings of the Laguna National golf club, which is hosting the Singapore Masters, Dougherty claimed that he had the answer to the inconsistency that has plagued his career. He produced a round of 66, six under par, to be four strokes behind Gary Lockerbie and Liang Wen-Chong, the joint leaders on 12 under, but, he said, in with a real chance of winning the tournament. 'That was the best round of golf I have ever played in my life,' Dougherty said. 'It could so easily have been a 60. I was doing the sort of things you would see Tiger [Woods] do and that's crazy because I've done nothing for months. I even had three putts from inside 10 feet for eagles and missed them all.'

The Englishman said that he had been working hard on his technique, but had realised only last week that to rely totally on that aspect of the game was a mistake. 'I was seven under after 12 holes in the first round last week, then hit a poor shot and instead of trusting the swing that had got me into that position, immediately started to analyse what I was doing,' he said. 'I was dead from that moment.

'Of course, if you're not thinking about your swing and hitting garbage all the time, you're in trouble, but I've worked hard to get my technique to the point where I can trust it. If I can shoot 64 in the final round I can still win this thing.'

If anyone can catch the leaders, Dougherty can. He has always performed well on this course, winning his solitary European Tour co-sanctioned event here two years ago. 'For my last 10 rounds on the Masters course, I'm 36 under par,' he said.

As for Lockerbie, a former English Amateur champion, he is built more to withstand the weather in home town, Penrith, than Singapore. Asked how he was coping, he pointed to his shirt, clinging to his sturdy figure. 'It's no good fretting about it,' he said as he prepared for his final assault on the title.

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